Category: First Steps

With just a few days before Christmas, I invite you to pray this prayer with me:

“Almighty and Merciful God, you have told me to rejoice always, do good to others, and to be at peace.  Therefore, I need your assistance.  Help me to rely on your strength and to trust your faithfulness.  The same way I breathe in oxygen to live, Lord, I want to breathe in your Spirit.  I want it to calm my anxious heart.   Allow it to give me the right state of mind to praise you throughout this day.  Help me to see the effects of your Son’s work in the world.  Amen.”

Now, look for the traces of God’s work in your life.  Embrace the God-Moments.  Give thanks for His rich blessings in your life.

This week’s reading:

• Monday – John 1
• Tuesday – John 2
• Wednesday – John 3
• Thursday – John 4
  ​Friday – John 5

Please Pray for:

Upcoming Ukraine Mission Trip.  You might know I serve at a church that has a long-standing ministry in Ukraine.  I’m delighted my church serves in this capacity.  Some of you constantly ask what one can do to help this ministry.  First, please pray for Ukraine, their citizenry—especially their orphans.  Second, if you would like to financially aid this ministry, below is a link that lists some of the needs for the orphans we support.

http://spumccolumbus.com/ukraine-2018/

Linda Douty, the author of Praying in the Messiness of Life, wrote something worth considering:

“The term creatures of habit isn’t just a catchy phrase.  Its truth is gaining credence in the world of science as well as in our everyday world of observation.  As noted, each time we engage a thought, a particular neural pattern deepens.  The more frequently a behavior or feeling is repeated, the more likely it is to be repeated again.  No wonder Christians through the centuries have employed chant, prayer beads, and other forms of repetitive prayer…We are the gatekeepers of our own minds, monitoring what enters and what exits.  Though much enters our minds whether we want it or not, we still have a choice about how to deal with that “content.”  Even in the case of traumatic events, once we give proper attention to feelings and wounds, participating in the healing work of God, we can choose to move on.  To oversimplify, our minds are like blank chalkboards, and we hold both the chalk and the eraser.”

What gathers my interest is what can be created by repetitive patterns.  The question before each of us is what pattern(s) do I want to reinforce?  What pattern(s) do I want to erase?  The ones we want to create, we reinforce.  We feed it—over and over.  Therefore, focus on those patterns that give life, energy, and joy.  Give attention to those and see what God does over time.

This week’s reading:

• Monday – 1 Peter 4
• Tuesday – 1 Peter 5
• Wednesday – 2 Peter 1
• Thursday – 2 Peter 2
• ​Friday – 2 Peter 3

Please Pray for:

Upcoming Ukraine Mission Trip.  You might know I serve at a church that has a long-standing ministry in Ukraine.  I’m delighted my church serves in this capacity.  Some of you constantly ask what one can do to help this ministry.  First, please pray for Ukraine, their citizenry—especially their orphans.  Second, if you would like to financially aid this ministry, CLICK HERE for a link that lists some of the needs for the orphans we support.

Can we surrender the mantle of trying to be, as someone has described us in our drivenness, “General Manager of the Universe?” Many of us are so accustomed to trying to be good – doing what is right, covering everything on our to-do list – that we live our lives, even our spiritual lives, at a frantic pace. We cram every minute of every day with activity and achievement, measuring our worth by what we earn or what good deeds we have done. But this beatitude [“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3)] says that approach is all wrong. When we offer to God what we cannot be or do – our weaknesses – then the kingdom is ours. God says in this beatitude, “When you give up your illusions of control and power and acknowledge your absolute need for me, all that I have opens to you.” – (Mary Lou Redding).

This week, consider the single thought of giving the illusion of control and power to God. Pray with me, “Lord, everything that makes me me, I give to you. Help me to understand that is all that is asked and all that is needed. Grant me the assurance of a grace-filled life that comes from ‘being with you’ and not ‘doing for you.’ Amen.”

This week’s reading:

• Monday – James 4
• Tuesday – James 5
• Wednesday – 1 Peter 1
• Thursday – 1 Peter 2
• ​Friday – 1 Peter 3

Please Pray for:

• Our nation and our leaders
• Our families, homes, workplace, church, and community.
• Those that are suffering and grieving.
• Ongoing Building Renovations, Modifications, and Phase 3: Construction completion of the New Youth Building and rear parking.
• The United Methodist Church.

A few weeks ago I had a conversation with a local Rabbi about the concept of Thanksgiving. He told me of a Jewish prayer that is uttered first thing in the morning. The moment one awakes and before one’s feet hit the ground, there is a prayer of thanksgiving for another day of life. Gratitude is an attitude and state of being. It is the doorway to joy.

The task for all of us is, “Can we see everything in terms of gratitude?” Normally when we think of gratitude or thanksgiving, we focus on the big four: Faith, Family, Health, and Freedom. For right reasons, we are thankful for God’s love, our core relationships, good health, and the freedoms we enjoy by living in the United States.

But is that everything? My rabbinical friend would say the real test is whether you can be thankful when the alarm goes off early in the morning, when the gutters need to be cleaned out, or when you have to pay your taxes? What about when you have to cleanup the kitchen, get the oil changed in your car, or wait in line at the grocery store? Can we be thankful for those things? After all, the alarm clock is a reminder that you are alive, the gutters mean you have a home to live in, the taxes we pay mean we live in a country that has freedom as its core value, the kitchen mess means you have food to eat, the changed oil means you have a vehicle, and the grocery line means you have enough to purchase food. As menially frustrating as each task may be, the larger lesson is to see everything as a gift that has been given by God.

This week I hope you will join me in this prayer: “Gracious God, help me to see beyond the surface level of things. Teach me the joyful lesson that all things are a gift. Lord, I want to be this type of person who is grateful in everything. Cultivate that spiritual trait inside of me. Amen.”